Table 3.

Themes and subthemes with representative quotes (n 21)

Theme 1: Ethnicity, low dietary acculturation and past experiences with food insecurity shape fathers’ perceptions, beliefs and attitudes towards healthy eating and child’s feeding practices
Perspectives on healthy eating	‘I think for children healthy eating is really important. They [children] are growing and it’s important to eat healthy and eat a balanced meal like rice, beans, vegetables, meat. We avoid eating ultra-processed foods, junk foods. You know, all types of junk [“porcaria”, “bobagems”] food like chips, sweets, soda.’
Ethnicity and low dietary acculturation	‘I like my children to learn to eat the foods Brazilians eat. They are growing up in the US, but they are Brazilians and food is a big part of our culture As parents it’s our responsibilities to teach our children about everything including our culture. I know that my kids we will learn about the American culture, but I like them to grow up proud of also being Brazilian, and learning about our culture–our language, our food, our customs. I feel that if we [parents] don’t teach them at home, and when they are young, then they will not have an appreciation for being Brazilian.’
Fathers’ past experiences with food insecurity	‘I want to make sure that lack of food, not having enough to eat, is never a problem for my family. I feel it’s my role as a father to always want to give the best for my son and for my wife… I am just grateful for being able to provide all that my family needs – plenty of food, we never have a problem and that’s very important to me as I know from personal experience what’s to not have enough [food] to eat.’
Theme 2: Fathers’ perspectives of child’s eating and food environments
Home food environment as an important influence on children’s eating habits
Availability and accessibility of foods at home	‘One thing that we never have at home is soda, we just don’t buy it. [son’s name] drinks it [soda]. Only when we go out, or when it’s a birthday party or something like that. At home we try to have regular Brazilian foods for meals like typical meal of rice, beans, vegetables like cabbage, manioc, any meat, chicken, fried or roasted beef and fruits, lots of fruits … milk, we try to have healthy foods. One thing he [son] likes that we make is Brazilian cheese puffs (pão-de-queijo). It’s not super healthy, but not too bad [unhealthy], so he eats that. We [parents] try to not buy a lot of junk food like cookies, soda, chips. My daughter, she likes sweets, cookies, chocolate, and if we have these foods in the house she will find and eat them. She [daughter] climbs on the chair, on the top of the counter and opens the cabinet door and gets the cookies. When she was little we could hide it [cookies], but now [5 years old] she finds them and there is no way to keep her from eating it, so we avoid buying and having these foods at home.’
Conflicting schedules, family meal structure and social context of meals	‘We try to eat together as a family as much as we can. I think that having family meals, everybody eating together is very important. So, we try to keep the regular routine of having dinners together. We tell him [son] now is the time to eat and he cannot watch cartoons. Sometimes that’s becomes a fight. He cries like every kid then he eats and eats fast because he wants to watch his cartoons.’
Theme 3: Fathers’ perceived role in child’s eating: modelling, responsibility and involvement
Parental modelling and responsibility	‘As a parent, we need to set an example for our children. If they see us eating healthy foods – rice, beans, vegetables, meat, they [children] will want to do the same. As parents we need to set good examples. So, if I tell my children that they cannot have Coca-Cola, I shouldn’t drink it either. We need to set a good example and be a good role model. Because they [children] are growing up far away from Brazil, it’s even more important that we make sure they learn about our culture, our food, our way of living, of being … you know the way we Brazilians are and it’s really important we teach them when they are young to appreciate and like our food and get used to it … at our house, we have rice and beans, some meat and vegetables every day. We eat the typical Brazilian foods, and it’s good for the children to grow up learning since they are young.’
Paternal involvement with and responsibilities for child’s feeding	‘Usually my wife will leave some foods ready in advance if she’s coming home late, but often she gets home and will start making the dinner. My wife often decides what to cook, but we all eat the same things and like the typical foods, you know the typical Brazilian foods like rice, beans, vegetables, salad and meat. The kids eat what we eat it’s really the same food. Sometimes the little one eats earlier, but same food. My wife is really the main person but we agree on the food we like. Here we don’t have as much help like in Brazil where we have family. I know it’s hard on her and try to help. … because here [USA] we [fathers] need to be more involved. We are away from family and from our country. It’s only us and a few family members and friends that we can count on. My wife has a pretty busy schedule and I try to help her with the children. Most days I am done with work before she is and I take the children home and help.’
Theme 4: Fathers’ feeding practices
Children influence parental feeding practices	‘The problem with [son’s name] is that he is very picky about what he likes to eat and how it’s served. It can be difficult to make sure that he eats enough. All he likes is chicken nuggets, milk, sometimes some rice … but he’s really picky. So sometimes we will sit down with him and it’s hard to get him to eat the regular food, you know, what we Brazilians eat – rice, beans, meat. Sometimes we threaten him, or better, we entice him with things he likes. Like if he does not eat he’ll lose what he likes best. It’s always a toy, television or iPad, so he has to eat to watch television, otherwise he will not watch TV. Sometimes that’s the only way to get him to eat. It’s hard. It’s a constant battle. My concern is because she is really thin. But the doctor said that this is a bit of genetics because we are all kind of skinny in my family and my wife’s family they are all pretty small [petit] people. But still, I would like her to eat more out of concern that she should be a bit chubby.’
Family members influence preschool-aged children’s eating habits	‘The children are growing up here and it’s very different from how we grew up. At home we try to make sure we cook the typical Brazilian foods like rice, beans, meat, but they are growing up here and every day for them is different. They go to school and they are learning also about the American lifestyle. Like my mother-in-law lives with us and watches the little one [son]. She came from Brazil when my daughter [6 years old] was born and she’s been living with us ever since. We are very grateful to have her here. When the kids are little not having family around is really hard. The kids really like having her around. She spoils the kids a bit, you know, grandmothers. We are lucky to have my mother and my wife’s mother here [USA]. I don’t know what we would without their help. They both help with my daughter. Sometimes my wife complaints that they don’t listen to what she says about not giving her too many bottles or sweets, but you know, they care for her [daughter] like no one else would. Her [daughter] pediatrician talked to my wife about stopping the bottles. That she’s [daughter] getting older and it is not good to put her to sleep with a bottle. Sometimes we see things differently [from grandmother] and my wife gets upset, but I tell my wife, they [grandmothers] raised us and we are here and we are healthy.’
Food as a parenting tool	‘We [parents] don’t allow her to have sodas [“refrigerants”], especially coca cola, no soda and also no artificial juices that have preservatives. We also try not to give a lot of junk food. She loves chips and cookies, but we try to limit [child’s consumption] it. But she’s a kid and all kids like to eat candy, chocolate, cookies. So, it’s not that we can always say no. It is very difficult to have her not eat it at all, so sometimes we give in.’
Access and availability of unhealthy foods	‘The kids ask to buy foods that are not healthy and we try not to buy these foods [unhealthy] very often, but it’s impossible to always say “no”, they learn about these foods at school [older kids], from friends, and even us [adults/parents] consume some foods that are not healthy. It’s easy to take the kids to a fast food restaurant and every now and again we take them to McDonald’s or a pizzeria. My wife and I don’t like these fast foods, but the kids love it. So sometimes we take them. It’s not super healthy, but every now and then, it’s not so bad.’
Theme 5: Childcare arrangements influence children’s eating habits
‘She [daughter] goes to a family day care and we like that the provider is also Brazilian, but sometimes my wife gets upset that she [daughter] comes home saying she ate sweets at the family day care. My wife can get upset, but for the most part the provider is really good, but sometimes we don’t agree with all she does. My son stays in a family day care all days of the week and sometimes if both my wife and I have to work he also goes for some hours on Saturdays. He eats most of his meals there. He has milk in the morning before my wife drops him off [at day-care], but he eats his breakfast there [at day-care] because they [wife and son] leave home very early [7:30–7:45 o’clock] and he’s still sleepy. The day care [provider] is Brazilian and she cooks typical Brazilian meals and the kids have lunch together. She’s pretty good and my son really loves her [day-care provider]. We are lucky because she’s [day-care provider] like family.’
Theme 6: Fathers’ interest in participating in intervention to promote child’s healthy eating habits
‘Personally, I would be happy to learn more. I think that one can always learn more and I want to best for my children and my family, so if there’s a programme or a class for families with children I would want to take part in it. Especially these days there’s the problem of obesity. My children are healthy and don’t have a problem with it but it’s good to prevent. If there’s a programme offered for parents and if it’s for Brazilians and fathers like me I would participate. I think I could do it, at least I would try and see. My wife did a programme at the church and she liked it. It was only for mothers, but I think it’s good to have for both parents. Both mothers and fathers. Both parents have responsibility for their children and even though my wife takes care of the children more than I do. I help her, or at least I try to help.’